Xylocarpus granatum Koen belongs to Natural Order Meliaceae. It is a mangrove and is commonly known as “pussur” in Hindi language. It is tall tree ranging up to 20 m. with buttressed stem base. Bark is yellowish-white, peeling off as papery flakes. Leaves unijugate or bijugate, leaflets obovate, glabrous, entire, rounded at apex, tappering at base; flowers 5-7 mm. across, white with a reddish gland within, in axillary thyrses: Calyx 4-lobed, petals 4, free. Fruits are large as long as 30-40 cm. across, globose, septa fragal capsules; splitting tardily into 4 valves. Seeds 10-15 in number pyramid shaped corky testa. flowering and fruiting through out year. The species occurs in tidal forests along the east and west coastal areas up to Maharastra and in Andaman Island in India.
Seed paste is used for relief of breast cancer [Banerjee, L. K., Sastry, A. R. K. and Nayar, M. P. (1989) B.S.I. Publication; (1989), 58-59.; Chopra, R. N., Nayar, S. L. and Chopra, I. C. Glossory of Indian Med. Plants. (1956), 51, CSIR Publication, New Delhi, India]. Literature review revealed that only few workers have tried to isolate chemical constituent of this species. Fatty acids, sterols and hydrocarbons were isolated from its leaves [Hogg. W. R. and Gillan, T. F., Phytochemistry 23 (1984) 93-97]. An alkaloid 8-acetyl dihydrochelerythrins from its root bark [Krajniak, E. R., Ritchie, E. and Taylor, W. C. Aust. J. Chem. 26 (1973) 687].7-α-Acetoxydihydronomillin (Cneorin-G) was isolated from this plant [Marcelle, G. B. and Mootoo, B. S. Tet. Lett. (1981) 505; Ahmed F. R., Ang. S. Ng and Fallis, A. G., an. J. Chem. 56 (1978) 1020]. Xylocarpin was isolated from the seed of the plant [Okorie, D. A. and Taylor D. A. H. J. Chem. Soc. (C) (1970) 211]. In another report Xyloccensin—I & J were also isolated from this species [Alvi K. A., Crew, P., Aalsbersberg, B and Prasad, R., Tetrahedron., 47 (1991) 8943]. Further in another report, Xyloccensin-K, a new limonoid was also isolated from the seeds [Kokpol, U. Warmthorn. C., Phytochemist, 41(3) (1996) 903-5], 6-α, 1-β-diacetoxygedunin were isolated from its fruits.[Saxena, E. and Babu, U. V. Fitoterapia, 72(2) (2001) 186-87] Xyloccensins-L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T&U were isolated recently by Chineese workers [Jun Wu, Si Zhang, Qiang Xiang, Qingxin Li, Jianshe Huang, Lijuan Long and Liangmin Huang, Tet Lett., 45 (2004) 591-593; Jun Wu, Si Zhang, Qiang Xiao, Qingxin Li, Jianshe Huang, Zhihui Xiao and Lijuan Long, Z Naturforsch, 58b, 1216-19(Abstract) full paper in press (2004), Jun Wu, Xiang Q, Jianshe Huang, Zhihui Xiao, Shuhua, Qi, Oingxin Li & Si Zhang, Org. Lett. 6 (11), 1841-1844 (2004), Jianxin Cui, Zhiwei Deng, Jun Li, Hongzheng Fu, Peter Proksch & Wenhan Lin, Phytochemistry, 66 (19), 2334-2339, (2005)]. Wu J., Xiao Q., Zhang S., Li X., Xiao Z. H., Ding H. X., Li Q. X., Tetrahedron, 61,8382 (2005), Jun Wu, Zhihui Xiao, Yang Song, Si Zhang, qiang Xiao, Cha Ma, Haixin Ding and Gingxin Li, Mag. Res. Chem., 44, 87-89 (2006)]. All these research papers are of academic interest and no reports are available on bioactivities of isolated compounds. In one of the report Gedunin has been reported] as antidiabetic compound [Gonzalez H., Sierra M. Proc. Natl. Symp. (1989) and the plant to have antifilarial activity against adults worms and microfilariae of B. pahangi [Wan. O. A., Hashim, Y. O. Sulaim, M. Z. and Ibrahim J., J Tropical Forest Prod. (1996)].
X. moluccensis (Lamk) M. Roem. synonymous to Carapa moluccensis (Lamk) belongs to Natural Order Meliaceae. It is a mangrove and is commonly known as pussur and Pitakura in Hindi language. It is a tall tree ranging up to 10-12 m. tall and trunk of 60 cm diameter at the base, slightly buttressed stem. Bark is red with thick flacks. Wood red in color, leaflets7-12×3-6 cm. ovate, acute at apex, oblique at the base, flowers 2-3 cm. across, white with red glands inside, staminal teeth obscure, anthers exceeding the teeth, stigma cup shaped, fruits 10-15 cm. across globose. This species of Xylocarpus is uncommon and grows in association with Heritiera litteralis. Flowering and fruiting from June to September. It is mainly reported 0to be found in Mahanadi deltaic region and in Andamans [Adelbert, A. G. L (1948) Bluma, 6(1) 314; Hiem, W. P. (1875) in J. D. Hooker, fl. Brit. India, 1, 561; Parkinson, C. E. (1923) For. Fl. Andaman Islands, p-118; Watson, J G (1928) Mal. For. Rec. 6].
Literature review revealed that some research work has been carried out on this plant to isolate the chemical constituents. Few limonoids such as Xyloccensins-A, B, C, D, E and F were isolated and characterized from the seed and timber of the plant [Conolly, J. D., Maclellan, M. O., Domingo, A., Taylor, D. A. H., J. Chem. Soc, Perkin trans-1 (1976) 19, 1993-6]. Xylomollin was isolated and characterized from the unripe fruits [Kubo, I. Miura, I., Nakanishi, K., J. Am. Chem. Soc., (1976) 8 (21) 6704-5]. Xyloccensins G, H, and I were isolated by Taylor group from this plant and structures were also established [Taylor, D. A. H., Phytochemistry (1983) 22 (5) 1297-9. Few hydrocarbons, fatty acids and fatty alcohols were identified in the waxes of the plant [Sil, P., Thakur, S., Mazumdar, S. G., Turner, E. A., Hamilton, R. J., J. Ind Chem. Soc. (1983) 60 (5) 508-11. Xyloccensins I and J were further isolated by Khisal et al. [Khisal, A., Alvi, P., Crews, B. A. and Regina, P., Tetrahedron (1991) 47 (43) 8943-8]. Conolly and his group isolated Mexicanolide from this plant [Conolly, J. D., Crindle, R. Mc. and Overton, K. H., Tetrahedron (1968) 24, 1489-97]. A new unsaturated aryl ketoacid and its methyl ester was isolated from this species by Bercich et al. [Bercich, M. G., Cambie, R. C., Lal, A. R., Sidwell, D., Aust. J. Chem. (1998) 51 (8) 795-797]. Few more limonoids i.e. detigloyl-6-deoxyswietenine acetate, phragamalin 3,30-diacetate and phragmalin 2,3,30-triacetate were also reported from this species by African group [Mulholland D. A. and Taylor, D. A. H. (1992) 31 (12) 4163-4166].